Kerry's war record

The Christmas Eve truce of 1968 had only just begun when mortar fire erupted around a US swift boat on one of the narrow waterways in the Mekong Delta. The machine gun post firing on the vessel was taken out.

It's a dramatic tale - one of many from the bloody Vietnam War. And now nearly 36 years on this micro military skirmish has macro political significance.

Of course the commander of the vessel was John Kerry, and the Democrats haven't blushed in playing up their man as the war hero, Vietnam vet.

But now a book from a conservative publisher is calling into question whether the Silver Star and Bronze Star for gallantry and three Purple Hearts for combat wounds were ever really earned.

Jon Sopel spoke to John O'Neill, author of the book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry and also to the Director of Veterans for Kerry, John Hurley. He started with Mr Hurley and put it to him that the allegations are hurting the Kerry campaign.

JOHN HURLEY:
(National Director, Veterans for Kerry)
No they're not helping at all. But these ads are built on lies. It's a dishonest representation of what John Kerry's service in Vietnam is. It's above board. It's without question. He won a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts. He's been honoured for his service to our country. These ads are a distortion of what John did in Vietnam.

SOPEL:
You've chosen to fight on this ground of his record in Vietnam. One of the claims is that he was in Cambodia in December 1968, the Americans weren't there in 1968 in the Mekong Delta.

JOHN HURLEY:
That's correct. What this is all about is that on Christmas Eve day in 1968 John Kerry and his crew were on patrol on the rivers in that afternoon. They stopped by a place and later that day they made their way up river toward the Cambodian border. They rendezvoused with two other boats and while the three were on the river together they came under mortar fire. They pursued the enemy. At the same time they were subject to fire from the opposite side of the river. That area of Vietnam is watery. The river is not well defined. There is no sign that says welcome to Cambodia. It's possible they crossed over at that time. It's possible that they did not. I don't think anyone knows for sure.

SOPEL:
If you're complaining this is a disgrace, the Democrats have had no shortage of fun with what President Bush did during the Vietnam War.

JOHN HURLEY:
George Bush is unable to establish that he even showed up for duty in Alabama during his time in the service. He had a flight physical down there that he failed to show up for after the taxpayers had paid millions of dollars to train him, he blew off that flight physical. That's reprehensible. That's different from John Kerry's service.

SOPEL:
By making George Bush's record an issue you're doing nothing that the Republicans aren't doing?

JOHN HURLEY:
The service of these two men is relevant to the campaign. We have promoted John Kerry's service in Vietnam. Needless to say when they keep attacking like this, this is a Republican inspired smear campaign. This is sponsored by Republican backers of George Bush, the communications director of the firm that is promoting this book is a Republican communications firm, it is inevitable we will get into George Bush's record. He cannot establish he showed up for duty in Vietnam.

SOPEL:
Thank you. We're joined by John O'Neill the author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. It's a great title, but no people who served with John Kerry on the swift boats are in this book, are they?

JOHN O'NEILL:
(Swift Boat Veterans for Truth)
Actually, there are. There are a number of people. There are more than 60 direct eyewitnesses. I am a swift boat guy, took over John Kerry boat when he left Vietnam.

SOPEL:
None served with John Kerry at the same time.

JOHN O'NEILL:
Sure. There are more than 60 people who served with John Kerry in this book in the same small unit. There are several of his crewmen. The 60 are direct eyewitnesses to the events in the book. I think it's very important to understand these were small boats that operated together as a unit. Veterans all over the country in the United States are laughing at the Washington lawyer theory that you have to be on exactly the same small boat to witness something, even if you're as close as I am to that camera on another boat.

SOPEL:
John McCane has described your adverts as dishonest and dishonourable.

JOHN O'NEILL:
And Senator McCane is entitled to his opinion. More than 22 prisoners of war have written letters supporting our effort. We've received letters of commendation from several high ranking military figures. A former chief of naval operations has congratulated us. There's widespread support for our effort throughout the veteran community in the United States.

SOPEL:
It's a pretty nasty, negative campaign isn't it? Doesn't it bring the Republican party into disrepute?

JOHN O'NEILL:
The effort is not a Republican effort. The United States Navy didn't send just Republicans to this unit. It sent people. What are involved are deeply personal issues more important than politics. This is a man who labelled us as war criminals, who exaggerated wildly his own record.

SOPEL:
This is all politics, you could have run this campaign any time you like. It's to do with the fact that John Kerry is running for president and you're trying to "hold him below the water line". JOHN O O'NEILL: Actually, I first debated John Kerry in 1971 and to try and avoid that unpleasantness, in May of this year, 254 of us signed a letter to John Kerry asking him to tell the truth.

SOPEL:
Just a final thought, aren't you drawing attention to one man, John Kerry, who went to Vietnam and another who didn't go anywhere near, George Bush.

JOHN O'NEILL:
We wouldn't draw a comparison, between the two because we're not devoted to the election of any particular person but I will tell you this, whatever minor service John Kerry did, no matter how exaggerated it does not compare to the terrible damage he did to the United States military when he came back, met with the north Vietnamese and accused us of war crimes.

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This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.